Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
Publishing Business & Licensing
You've just taken over WotC, what do you do?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Scars Unseen" data-source="post: 8934686" data-attributes="member: 10196"><p>Okay, so first thing I would do is, as you said, compile the rules from every previous edition, make a Legacy of D&D collection, and release it under Creative Commons. I believe in preservation, and so this would be a pretty big priority of mine.</p><p></p><p>My <em>next</em> plan would be to hire a number of people to be "D&D historians" and go through all the old setting material, whether it be game material, novels, magazine articles, etc. and start building a bible for each setting: an organized compilation of everything that has occurred in each setting, with separate appendixes for people and locations. These would then be used to create an edition agnostic digital product for each setting that is somewhat similar to the Forgotten Realms Interactive Atlas, but fully searchable by a number of criteria to include time, location, character name, monster(e.g. in case you wanted to know where every documented dragon could be found) and product line. Every entry would be referenced, and references to currently purchasable products would have links to the official product page. This product would receive free updates when new products for the setting came out. Additionally, the product would allow for new entries as well as "DM notes" added to existing ones so that the product could be used for campaign planning and tracking.</p><p></p><p>The next thing on the agenda would be creating solid DM tools for the use of planning and running campaigns and adventures. In addition to the kind of utilities you often see in these kinds of products, it would be hooked into a DM's advice community (also accessible by browser). One difference from a lot of similar RPG communities would be that it would be curated. A topic could be brought up and discussed, and at some point in time, it would be archived and summarized, giving the general consensus as well as any major dissenting opinions, similar to what you'd see in a court decision. This would allow someone browsing through old topics to get an idea of what was discussed and how it turned out without having to read through potentially dozens or more pages. The user of the DM tools could then save any topics they feel are useful for later reference.</p><p></p><p>Next would come a new edition of D&D. No thoughts on what would go in that edition, but it would be developed in conjunction with a VTT that allows for balancing testing so you can set up scenarios and see the various ways it might play out, hopefully to the effect of avoiding any <em>obvious</em> discrepancies between intent and result of design. These balancing tools could then be used in the VTT after release for encounter adjustment for groups that might be running parties that are larger, smaller or at different levels than an adventure expects. </p><p></p><p>Once the VTT is created, I would try to go the Steam route. Allow the other publishers to publish products (even non-D&D) on my platform with me taking a cut. Continually develop and improve the platform so that people <em>want</em> to play on my VTT. Let publishers sell keys for products on my platform on their own sites with no cut at all. The idea being that having a VTT that lets players get into a new system on a familiar platform that takes on some of the heavy lifting of learning new systems would be good for both players and publishers, and having them all advertised on a storefront I run means that even if some players don't buy on my site, they'll <em>be</em> on my site, making them more likely to buy something there later. And on top of it all is a steadily growing and improving set of tools that can be potentially be used for any system. Wins for everyone as far as I can see.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Scars Unseen, post: 8934686, member: 10196"] Okay, so first thing I would do is, as you said, compile the rules from every previous edition, make a Legacy of D&D collection, and release it under Creative Commons. I believe in preservation, and so this would be a pretty big priority of mine. My [I]next[/I] plan would be to hire a number of people to be "D&D historians" and go through all the old setting material, whether it be game material, novels, magazine articles, etc. and start building a bible for each setting: an organized compilation of everything that has occurred in each setting, with separate appendixes for people and locations. These would then be used to create an edition agnostic digital product for each setting that is somewhat similar to the Forgotten Realms Interactive Atlas, but fully searchable by a number of criteria to include time, location, character name, monster(e.g. in case you wanted to know where every documented dragon could be found) and product line. Every entry would be referenced, and references to currently purchasable products would have links to the official product page. This product would receive free updates when new products for the setting came out. Additionally, the product would allow for new entries as well as "DM notes" added to existing ones so that the product could be used for campaign planning and tracking. The next thing on the agenda would be creating solid DM tools for the use of planning and running campaigns and adventures. In addition to the kind of utilities you often see in these kinds of products, it would be hooked into a DM's advice community (also accessible by browser). One difference from a lot of similar RPG communities would be that it would be curated. A topic could be brought up and discussed, and at some point in time, it would be archived and summarized, giving the general consensus as well as any major dissenting opinions, similar to what you'd see in a court decision. This would allow someone browsing through old topics to get an idea of what was discussed and how it turned out without having to read through potentially dozens or more pages. The user of the DM tools could then save any topics they feel are useful for later reference. Next would come a new edition of D&D. No thoughts on what would go in that edition, but it would be developed in conjunction with a VTT that allows for balancing testing so you can set up scenarios and see the various ways it might play out, hopefully to the effect of avoiding any [I]obvious[/I] discrepancies between intent and result of design. These balancing tools could then be used in the VTT after release for encounter adjustment for groups that might be running parties that are larger, smaller or at different levels than an adventure expects. Once the VTT is created, I would try to go the Steam route. Allow the other publishers to publish products (even non-D&D) on my platform with me taking a cut. Continually develop and improve the platform so that people [I]want[/I] to play on my VTT. Let publishers sell keys for products on my platform on their own sites with no cut at all. The idea being that having a VTT that lets players get into a new system on a familiar platform that takes on some of the heavy lifting of learning new systems would be good for both players and publishers, and having them all advertised on a storefront I run means that even if some players don't buy on my site, they'll [I]be[/I] on my site, making them more likely to buy something there later. And on top of it all is a steadily growing and improving set of tools that can be potentially be used for any system. Wins for everyone as far as I can see. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
Publishing Business & Licensing
You've just taken over WotC, what do you do?
Top